Despite making arrest, Toronto police reveal few details about string of sexual assaults near Christie Pits

Even after Toronto police announced an arrest Monday in a months-long string of sexual assaults near Christie Pits, residents were left with unanswered questions about the nature of the alleged attacks.

Police would not confirm whether the 15-year-old accused, who faces more than a dozen sexual assault charges, allegedly groped his victims or assaulted them in a more invasive way. The offence encompasses everything from unwanted touching to rape, and the lack of details has prompted weeks of speculation in Christie Pits about the potential dangers lurking nearby.

But police spokeswoman Meaghan Gray says investigators must be vague for a number of reasons, including to avoid trivializing certain types of assault.

“By including details of a sexual assault, there are some people that may attribute a level of significance or a level of seriousness to the sexual assault. That’s not the message that we want to get across,” she said. “We want to get across the message that every single sexual assault is a serious one, regardless of where it ends up on that spectrum of offences.”

A sexual offender may ramp up the severity of his attacks without warning, Ms. Gray added, and police would not want to lull residents into a false sense of security. Police endeavour to provide other relevant details, she said, such as the Christie Pits suspect’s description and part of his modus operandi: He allegedly approached women from behind and ran off after attacking them.

Experts remain divided, however, on whether this is the best approach, with some saying the public has a right to know whether there is a rapist in their midst, and others arguing that any distinction between sexual assaults does a disservice to victims.

“There’s no reason why the public shouldn’t know what’s going on in their area, and to take appropriate precautions,” said Daniel Brown, a Toronto-based criminal lawyer who has represented many clients charged with sexual assault.

People have a tendency to “think the worst” when police report an incident of sexual assault, he said.

“[I don’t know] why they would want to hold back from the public that someone is going around pulling people into bushes and having intercourse with them, or simply running by and grabbing them on the rear end and running off,” Mr. Brown said.

With regard to the Christie Pits case, he said, “there’s been a little bit of hysteria going on in that area of the city, and that hysteria in some respects is police-fuelled.”

Rape used to be its own offence category under Canada’s Criminal Code, but the law was changed in 1983 to bring it under the umbrella term of sexual assault, in what experts called an attempt to destigmatize the crime and recognize that many different types of sexual assault are harmful.

Today, there are three levels of sexual assault: sexual assault, sexual assault with a weapon and aggravated sexual assault. The first category represents the bulk of offences, experts say, and includes everything from an unwanted kiss to rape.

Blair Crew, an expert in sexual assault law at the University of Ottawa, said police investigating serial sexual assaults must balance their obligation to avoid tainting the evidence with their duty to protect the public. Too much information in the public realm may prompt an offender “to change his conduct so as to avoid detection,” Mr. Crew said.

“Would it give residents a little bit more peace of mind to know that [an offence] was maybe at the lower end? The answer is yes, but I think the police might feel that might compromise their investigation,” he noted.

Michelle Batty, executive director of the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Centre in Sarnia, said any sexual assault should be considered serious — regardless of where it falls on the continuum.

“It’s almost like people are trying to make a judgment, ‘This one isn’t so bad because it’s just groping,’” she said. “[But that] can be just as devastating for that particular person versus another form of sexual assault.”

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